Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

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paulac1978
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Aug 2018, 18:07

Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by paulac1978 »

On April 14, 2018, I bought three tickets from Miami International Airport (MIA) to Brussels International Airport (BRU) departing from MIA on 05/29/2018 at 04:05PM on TUI fly Belgium 218 and returning from BRU on 06/26/2018 at 11:35AM on TUI fly Belgium 217 via eDreams.com

On Tuesday 06/26/2018 me, my partner and my son arrived at BRU at 9:20 AM.

Once at the airport (BRU) we were shocked with news that our flight was about to take off and that our only option was to buy a new ticket. A female agent at TUIfly desk told me the airline had notified eDreams on several occasions but that they had never confirmed receiving the notifications. When I asked why the airline did not notify me directly, she responded: "We do not have the passenger information since you purchased the tickets through a third part agent." and follow to her statement she proceeded to print out some documents and give them to me explaining me about the messages that they supposed to have sent to eDreams. Without anything else that I could add to that, I proceeded to call eDreams by phone directly.
They told me that it was the responsibility of the airline to notify me of any change regarding the flight. After my insistence and further mention of the documents that I have in my power probing Tui had notified them, the eDreams representative asked me to send him an email with the copy of those documents.
Three hours later, still stranded at the airport feeling hopeless, I decided to call TUIfly to see if they had any solution available for us. The number I called is:+32 70220000. The TUIfly agent who took my call knew about my situation before I finish talking and he, once again, repeated what I was already told since the beginning: that TUIfly had notified eDreams on May 22 and for that reason they were not responsible and that my claim should be made to them (eDreams).

I decided to call eDreams again. Another agent took the call, I had to explain all over again and (again) TUIFly was blamed. I felt I was having a nervous breakdown and I DEMANDED proof of his statement. I asked him to call a supervisor and put him on the phone and he offered me to call Tuifly, himself. After more than 45 minutes on the phone (most of it “on hold”) with him and while he was on another call with a TUIfly agent, he came back with a last and shocking version of what happened:

That TUIfly had (actually) informed me about the change in ONE opportunity on May 22, 2018 and because of they did inform me, eDream was not responsible for ANY of what happened. And following to saying that, he forwarded me the email that he just had received from Tuifly agent Filip at 24/7 office.THIS IS THE WAY THEY TRIED TO GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING, THIS IS THEIR FRAUD: An email that it is not in any way a forwarded email from an original sent to me (if it was ever really sent).

It is a PDF document and NOT A FORWARDED from the original; In addition it contains my partner's surname (DUARDO) and not mine, when the reservation was primarily under my name and all emails and notifications regarding the reservation were ALWAYS handled over my last name (CASTELLANO). It was later on when they changed it to Duardo (don't know the reason) and that was also big part of the reason why all this happened, that was the reason why I wasn't able to log in to your webpage to do the check in.

In addition to be a PDF, several inconsistencies are observed:
a) the format of the PDF which does not appear to be an email but only a plain text with the supposed data of an email;
b) the date is not contained as part of the body of the email but ADDED to the end of the email;
c) the header of the email is not a standard format which would contain the data of the sending servers (smtp), dates, "from:" addresses and tentative "to:" addresses.
In the supposed case that this email was sent to me (never appeared into my email inbox), how could they have sent to me a PDF format email when ALL of the emails I have received in the past from TUIfly were always with HTML content ?? Were emails that shows the header and footer with the information and logo of the airline company and not jus a PLAIN TEXT.
It should be noted that in the first calls prior to the "appearance" and subsequent reception of this PDF email, ALL the staff of the company both at the desk and those who answered my phone calls, always stated that the emails were sent to eDreams and not to me because the airline “doesn't keep my information”.

Incredulous about the veracity of that email, I decided to make one last call to the phone shown on the email signed by FILIP (+32 59565666). He, personally took the call and already aware of me and my situation, he repeated the same argument as the eDream guy: That the “miraculous” last-minute appearance of that email absolved TUIfly, eDreams and everyone else of the responsibility and (he advised) there was nothing I could do but just to buy three more tickets and go home.
… hopeless, after seven hours at the airport, I approached a new agent at the TUIfly desk, she was sitting next to a young male agent, and I asked her for the next flight available from BRU to MIA for me and my family.

While listening to my story, she kindly offered me a flight for the next Sunday July 1st (It was now Tuesday June 26th..). I asked if there was a flight available for a date before Sunday and she proceeded to look at her monitor. After a matter of few second she mentioned there was a flight departing on Thursday at 9:20 am for 744 Euros.

Next day, while about to make the check in we realized the flight the young nice girl at the desk has booked me on was scheduled to depart on THURSDAY AUGUST 28th, 2018.. two months away from that day!!!

We called TUIfly. Filip (again) answered the call, he said the ticket was not refundable and that he wasn't there at the time of the purchase to be able to admit the agent mistakenly booked me in the wrong day!! He suggested that “maybe” I requested departing from Brussels on August 28th..
It was the most disrespectful and coward answer I ever heard.
It was the most horrible experience I could have ever thought to have with and airline. All the different version of one single problem, the mistake of booking a flight with two months gap when the passengers are stranded at the airport.. the lies, the different arguments. Its just difficult to understand.
For the last 7 years commuting for work from MIA to DCA on different airlines NEVER I had a problem. The airline would even call me on the phone to confirm schedule changes if I did not acknowledge an email within a day or two.

I’m a regular traveler and never encountered such issues before. Most of the time the process of booking+check in goes smoothly, there is alway trust put on the airline, on the booking agent that all is correct and that they have you covered..

We should have been updated, informed… and more than once if that was the case.
We tried to check in online, we requested the boarding passes from eDreams when we weren't able to check in with you but we were told to go to the airport at the originally scheduled time.
WE WERE ON VACATION! We trusted everything was fine, normally is.


It was TUIfly company who has failed to inform me of the new schedule and for that reason we have missed the flight to return to our home, on providing me with an alternative. Instead I was blamed and left to my own costing me to spend two days in Brussels, last minute airline tickets to return to America, car rental and accommodation for two days. Plus, ground transportation to and from airports.

I have filed proper claims on their website but I have not received any answer yet. I have been sharing messages with one of their agents who asked for my bank account information in order to reimburse the amount for the ticket that was booked to the wrong date, but as of today I have not received anything. An I so much feel I have been defrauded, what makes them look like criminals.

Do I still have a chance to file a legal claim?
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sn26567
Posts: 40827
Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
Contact:

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by sn26567 »

Hi paulac1978, welcome to Aviation24.be.

Thank you for your testimony. I hope you will soon find a solution to your problems. Good luck!
André
ex Sabena #26567

Sai
Posts: 200
Joined: 31 Mar 2012, 22:35

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by Sai »

Not a pleasent experience
To be honest...this is a well known issue in the travel industry not limited to TUI or SN or any other airline.
Whenever you book via a third party like e.g. Cheap flights.nl, kiwi or eDreams and alike the booking system notes as personal emailadress e.g [email protected] instead of your personal e-mail or telephone number...
So the airline can't reach you in case of delays or changes.

In my personal view not really the fault of the airlines as they really do want to inform their passengers...but if they don't receive the correct data from third party websites because those are often not interested in too much administrative hassle (too costly for their business model).

Heard this story so many times...people complaining not receiving info during delays because the airline ticket was bought by someone else and failed to register a telephone number or the correct mailadress, etc...

Lesson to be learned: Always book directly from the airline. Almost always it will be the cheapest option and in case they fail to inform you they are the only responsible.

Regarding the second ticket that was mistakenly booked you should have checked the date (however I probably wouldn't either), but as a courtesy the airline should have changed the ticket for you imo

Passenger
Posts: 7266
Joined: 06 Dec 2010, 20:54

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by Passenger »

That document is not false/falsified. It's an automated e-mail message that has been "manipulated" to mail it via normal mail correspondence. Anyway: somewhere someone has made an error, and I see three possibilities:
1. eDreams recieved a noticifation from TUIfly, but eDreams forgot to contact you;
2. TUIfly has sent you a notification, but their automated follow-up failed;
3. TUIfly has sent you a notification and you have confirmed it by accident.

For all bookings, airlines must have an emergency telephone number and/or e-mail address in their system. When it's a booking via a travel agent, TUIfly gives them the choice: register their own telephone number, or register the clients' telephone number. When travel agents give their own telephone number to TUIfly, they are responsible for the notification of schedule chances and last minute cancellations. Many travel agents fill in the clients' details, specially when there is a time difference between Belgium and origin/destination.

Anyway: it's obvious that you won't be able to solve this by telephone. On top, those telephone calls are useless for further use because some people will later deny what (you say that) they've said. So mail both parties as from now.

The obligation to proof that the passenger has received the change, is with the airline. They know this very well - it's standard practice for disputes. So they keep a record of it. Copy/paste the "confirm this notification" url in your e-mail to TUIfly, and ask them to which e-mail address that has been sent, and when exactly (= date and time) someone has clicked on that link for aknowledge of the time change. Ask them if they have any proof of identification of the one who has clicked "confirm receipt", ex. an IP-address (some computer systems register that). It's possible that the mail has been sent to you indeed, but that is not a valid "we advised a schedule change". It's only valid when you have notified them that you have received it.

Sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes people make errors. And sometimes people will try to cover up their errors or errors from direct colleagues. However, it is my experience that staff at TUI Belgium takes responsability when there is clear proof indeed they have made an obvious error. They take a deep breath and go to their supervisor...

paulac1978
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Aug 2018, 18:07

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by paulac1978 »

I'm reading your comments and they are so great, THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!
I want to note that TUIfly DID have my information because it is in the documents they gave me showing the messages they sent to eDreams. I even asked "why are you saying you dont have my information when I can see it is clearly written on these papers'? but the agent just kept herself repeating that the ingo was sent to eDreams and I should make a claim to them. HOWEVER, 7 hours later they found an email they say it sent to me.. there was NEVER a consistent argument of what happened or when or who..
What I can assure you is this: I NEVER CONFIRMED A SCHEDULE CHANGE E-MAIL NOTIFICATION".
Thank you again for taking the time to write your comments. I guess next step is to seek legal advise..

paulac1978
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Aug 2018, 18:07

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by paulac1978 »

737MAX wrote: 23 Aug 2018, 12:30 Yep. Something went wrong somewhere....

... checking your flight status the day before your flight is always recommended and takes about 2 seconds with all the means we have in 2018:..
I did. More than 24 hrs in advance. Their page showed us a message saying the check in was not available and to "please see agent at airport desk". WE DID EVERYTHING from our part.

Homo Aeroportus
Posts: 1489
Joined: 24 Feb 2007, 18:28
Location: 2300NM due South of North Pole

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

As from the beginning of the summer schedule, i.e. 03 April 2018, all TB217 flights operating BRU-MIA on a weekly basis are planned to leave at 09:30 (09:20 as from 19JUN).

Just sayin ....

H.A.

paulac1978
Posts: 4
Joined: 22 Aug 2018, 18:07

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by paulac1978 »

Homo Aeroportus wrote: 24 Aug 2018, 21:11 As from the beginning of the summer schedule, i.e. 03 April 2018, all TB217 flights operating BRU-MIA on a weekly basis are planned to leave at 09:30 (09:20 as from 19JUN).

Just sayin ....

H.A.

I booked my flights on April 14th.. at the old schedule, then.

stragke
Posts: 16
Joined: 15 Jul 2016, 21:47

Re: Terrible Experience with TUIfly BE

Post by stragke »

okay stupid question here. Do you have by any chance gmail as mail program? Because they WILL flag a lot of stuff as spam. Only asking here because I had it before.

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